Advertising apparatus

ABSTRACT

An advertising apparatus  10  including a generally flat base  12  and a broad face  14  which forms an acute angle  16  with the generally flat base  12 . Further, the broad face  14  includes several display portions  20, 22 , and  18  which, in one non-limiting embodiment of the invention, are programmable. In one non-limiting embodiment, the apparatus may include a selectively depressible alarm switch  100.

This application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/803,479 which was filed on Jun. 28, 2010 now U.S. Pat. No.8,189,121 and which was a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 12/313,943 which was filed on Nov. 26, 2008 and which matured intoU.S. Pat. No. 7,768,440 and which was a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/804,038 which was filed on May 16, 2007 andwhich matured into a U.S. Pat. No. 7,471,232 and which was acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/315,678 which wasfiled on Dec. 10, 2002 and which was abandoned. This application claimsthe benefit of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/803,479 andU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/313,943 which matured into U.S. Pat.No. 7,768,440, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/804,038 whichmatured into U.S. Pat. No. 7,471,232 ad U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/315,678 which is now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to an advertising apparatus andmore particularly, to an apparatus which may be removably placed withina commercial establishment, such as but not limited to a sleepingestablishment, and which includes certain information related to theidentity of television channels and the identity of other commercialestablishments.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many types of apparatuses, such as and without limitation a billboard,are used to provide advertisement for certain products and services.While these advertisement apparatuses do desirably provideadvertisement, they suffer from some drawbacks. For example and withoutlimitation, many of these apparatuses only provide the advertisementinformation and do not provide other information which the consumer mayfeel is more useful, thereby limiting the effectiveness of the theseapparatuses as they are regarded as having only advertising content andare frequently ignored. Further, by way of example and withoutlimitation, the information which is respectively contained within orincluded upon many of these apparatuses is not easily modified orchanged, thereby undesirably increasing the cost associated withproviding advertisement, and many of these prior apparatuses are notreadily and selectively deployable within a variety of locations. Thepresent invention addresses these drawbacks in a new and novel fashion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a first non-limiting advantage of the present invention to providean advertising apparatus which overcomes some or all of thedisadvantages associated with prior advertising apparatuses.

It is a second non-limiting advantage of the present invention toprovide an advertising apparatus which overcomes some or all of thedisadvantages associated with prior advertising apparatuses and which,by way of example and without limitation, provides a plurality ofdifferent types of information, thereby desirably increasing the overallusefulness of the advertising apparatus.

It is a third non-limiting advantage of the present invention to providean advertising apparatus which overcomes some or all of thedisadvantages associated with prior advertising apparatuses and which,by way of example and without limitation, provides information which maybe easily and programmably changed and modified.

It is a fourth non-limiting advantage of the present invention toprovide an advertising apparatus which overcomes some or all of thedisadvantages associated with prior advertising apparatuses and which,by way of example and without limitation, may be selectively andremovably placed upon a surface.

It is a fifth non-limiting advantage of the present invention to providean apparatus comprising a flat base having a certain width and a flatface having a width which is substantially similar to the certain widthand which forms an acute angle with respect to the flat base, whereinthe flat face includes a first portion having certain informationregarding a sleeping establishment, a second portion which includes alisting of television channels, and a third portion which includesinformation concerning an establishment in close proximity to thesleeping establishment.

It is a sixth non-limiting advantage of the present invention to providean apparatus comprising a flat base portion; a face portion which formsan acute angle with respect to the flat base portion; a televisioncontroller which is operatively contained within the face portion; asymbol which is representative of a television channel, said symbolbeing disposed on a certain portion of the face portion; and a switchwhich is coupled to the television controller and which is disposed inclose proximity to the symbol and wherein the switch being effective,upon a selective depression, to cause the television controller to causea television to be tuned to the television channel.

It is a seventh non-limiting advantage of the present invention toprovide an apparatus comprising a flat base portion; a face portionwhich forms an acute angle with respect to said flat base portion; atelevision controller which is operatively contained within said faceportion; a symbol which is representative of a television channel, saidsymbol being disposed on a certain portion of said face portion; and aswitch which is coupled to said television controller and which isdisposed in close proximity to said symbol and wherein said switch beingeffective, upon a selective depression, to cause said televisioncontroller to cause a television to be tuned to said television channel.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from a reading of the following detailed description ofthe invention and by reference to the following drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an advertising apparatus which ismade in accordance with the teachings of the preferred embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the advertising apparatus which is shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of an advertising apparatus which ismade in accordance with the teachings of a second embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown an advertising apparatus 10which is made in accordance with the teachings of the preferredembodiment of the invention.

As shown, advertising apparatus 10 comprises a member having a flat baseportion 12 and a generally flat and broad face portion 14 which forms anacute angle 16 with the base portion 12. In one non-limiting embodimentof the invention, the apparatus 10 is formed from clear plasticmaterial, although it should be appreciated that other colors andmaterials may be used to form the apparatus 10. Further, it should beappreciated that the apparatus 10 may be formed into any desired shapeor configuration and that in one non-limiting embodiment, the width ofthe portion 14 ranges from about six inches and the width of the base 12ranges from about three to about six inches. Other widths may beutilized and, in the most preferred embodiment of the invention, thewidth of portion 14 is substantially equal to the width of portion 12.

As is further and best shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus 10 includes afirst informational portion 18 which comprises or includes informationconcerning a sleeping establishment, a second informational portion 20which comprises or includes information concerning an eatingestablishment, or another type of commercial establishment in closeproximity to the sleeping establishment, and a third informationalportion 22 comprising or including a listing or identification oftelevision channels which may be selectively received by a televisionlocated in close proximity to the advertising apparatus 10. Hence, inone non-limiting embodiment of the invention, the apparatus 10 may beselectively placed near the bed of a hotel room and the pertinentinformation concerning that hotel (e.g., room rate and/or address and/ortelephone number and/or check-out time is listed in the informationportion 18). Information concerning a local eating establishment (e.g.,a pizzeria) is placed in portion 20. Since the informational portion 22includes information concerning television channels, (i.e., very usefulinformation) a room occupant is likely to utilize the apparatus 10 and,in so utilizing the apparatus 10, viewing the information portions 18,20. In one non-limiting embodiment of the invention, the apparatus 10 issecured to a tabletop (not shown) by the use of a Velcro® or othersimilar type of adhesive member 24 which is placed upon the base member12. Further, in one non-limiting embodiment of the invention, theinformation residing within one or more of the informational areas 18,20, 22 is respectively removable (e.g., is respectively placed upon alabel, card, or tape which is removably secured to portion 14.

In one business methodology of the preferred embodiment of theinvention, rental income is received from the establishment that islisted in the informational portion 20, thereby allowing the provider ofthe apparatus 10 to make a profit or subsidize the cost of producing theapparatus 10.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown an advertising apparatus 40which is made in accordance with the teachings of an alternateembodiment of the invention. Particularly, the advertising apparatus 40includes a member 41 comprising or including a generally flat base 42and a generally broad flat portion 44 which forms an acute angle 46 withthe generally flat base 42. In one non-limiting embodiment, portions 42,44 are respectively and substantially similar to portions 12, 14. Withinthe member 41 is operably contained a controller 60 which is operableunder stored program control and a selectively removable battery 62which is coupled to the controller 60 by the use of bus 64. Further,operably contained within the member 41 is a radio frequency transceiverassembly 66 which is operatively coupled to the controller 60 by the useof bus 68.

The member 41 further includes a first programmable display portion 70(e.g. a liquid crystal display portion) and a second programmabledisplay portion 72. Both display portions 70, 72 are coupled to thecontroller 60 by the use of bus 76 and to the battery 62 by the bus 77.The member 41 further includes an informational portion 80 containing aplurality of rows 82 of information. Particularly, each row 82 ofinformation delineates and identifies a unique television channel. Eachrow of information 82 further includes one selectively depressibleswitch 90 and all of the selectively depressible switches 90 areoperably coupled to the controller 60 by the use of bus 92. Further, themember 41 includes, in yet another alternate embodiment of theinvention, another selectively depressible switch 100 which is operablycoupled to the controller 60 by the use of bus 102 and an annuciator 104which is operably coupled to the controller 60 by the use of bus 106.

It should be appreciated that the above described electrical components(e.g., controller 60 and transceiver 66) may be selectively integratedwithin a single circuit board in a conventional manner. That is, in onenon-limiting embodiment of the invention, controller 60, transceiver 66,displays 70, 72, switches 90, 100, annuciator 104, and their respectiveelectrical buses may all be integrated or encapsulated into a singleelectrical circuit by a conventional molding process.

In operation, a depression of a switch 90 will cause the controller 60to operate the transceiver 66 in a manner which is effective to causethe transceiver 66 to generate a signal 108 which will cause atelevision (not shown) to be tuned to the channel which is identifiedwithin the row 82 within which that recently depress switch 90 resides.Further, the controller 60 includes an input/output portion 140 (e.g., akeypad) which is effective to cause the controller 60 to modify or fixthe information resident within the information portions 70, 72, therebyallowing the information which respectively resides within portions 70,72 to be selectively modifiable or programmable. Further, the selectivedepression of switch 100 causes the controller 60 to source electricalpower, from the battery 62 to the annuciator 104, effective to cause theannuciator to generate a loud noise in the form of an alarm.

Hence, it should be appreciated that the advertising apparatus 40selectively provides desired information and such displayed informationmay be easily changed or modified as desired, and that the apparatus 10is further adapted to selectively provide an alarm.

It is to be understood that modifications may be made as desired withoutdeparting from the spirit and the scope of the inventions as aredelineated in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A television controller comprising a televisioncontrol signal generation assembly: a face having a first portion whichdisplays information concerning television channels and which, whenselectively depressed, causes said television control signal generationassembly to generate a television channel selection signal, and whereinsaid face further having at least one other portion which receives anddisplays second user selected information concomitantly with saiddisplay of said information concerning said television channel, whereinsaid television channel information and said second user selectedinformation are simultaneously displayed upon said face portion.
 2. Atelevision controller assembly for use with a television, saidtelevision controller assembly comprising a television control signalgeneration assembly; a controller which is coupled to said televisioncontrol signal generation assembly; a face which is coupled to saidcontroller and which has a first television channel listing displayportion including at least one television channel display section and atouch portion which when touched causes said television control signalgeneration assembly to generate a signal to a television which causessaid television to be tuned to said at least one television channel,wherein said face further having a second display portion comprising asecond display section which displays second information at the sametime said television channel listing is displayed and wherein saiddisplayed second information may be changed by said controller withouteffecting said displayed channel listing and may be modified at any timeby generating a signal to said controller.
 3. The television controllerof claim 2 wherein said second display portion includes a third displaysection which displays third information at the same time saidtelevision channel listing and said second information are displayed andwherein said displayed third information may be changed by saidcontroller at any time and without effecting either said displayedsecond information and said displayed channel listing.
 4. The televisioncontroller of claim 3 wherein said television controller includes aninput/output portion which is coupled to said controller and by which auser selectively provides said first and second information to saidcontroller for respective display upon said first and second displaysections.
 5. A television controller assembly for use with a television,said controller assembly comprising a controller; a signal generatingassembly coupled to said controller; an input/output portion coupled tosaid controller; a face coupled to controller, wherein said faceincluding streaming information display portion and a television channeldisplay portion which includes the identification of at least onetelevision channel, and wherein at least a portion of said channeldisplay portion is touch sensitive and is effective, upon a touch, tocause said television channel selection signal generating assembly tosend a signal to the television effective to tune the television to theat least one television channel and wherein said at least one streaminginformation display portion continues to stream while information isdisplayed upon the television channel display portion and while saidtelevision is being tuned and wherein said display of information ofsaid at least one streaming information portion may be changed inresponse to a signal received from said input/output portion and whereinsaid signal received from said input/output portion specifies theinformation to be displayed upon said streaming information portion. 6.A self-contained hand held television controller for use with atelevision, said self-contained television controller comprising a body;a display disposed upon one surface of said body; a television controlsignal generator disposed within said body; a controller assemblydisposed within said body and coupled to said television control signalgenerator and to said display and wherein at least one televisionchannel identifier is displayed upon a first section of said display andwherein said display includes a touch sensitive portion which, whendepressed, causes said television control signal generator to generate asignal to said television, effective to tune said television to said atleast one channel, and wherein said display includes a second sectionwhich displays information; and a data input portion connected to saidcontroller assembly and effective to cause information to be displayedupon said second section and to be modified, at any time, withoutmodifying said displayed television channel identifier.